Amputations, burns, brain injuries: Gaza’s disabled population doubles

While numerous international reports have been published since the start of Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza regarding the massive disability crisis in the enclave, the PCBS said in a statement last night that approximately 42,000 people in Gaza are suffering from severe physical injuries and require long-term rehabilitation.

The PCBS emphasized that the most common injuries include complex limb trauma, amputations, burns, and severe trauma, leading to permanent loss of motor or sensory functions. Nearly 6,000 amputations have been recorded, 75 percent of them involving lower limbs.

The statement further noted that children are the most vulnerable group, with more than 10,000 children suffering from severe physical injuries resulting in disability. Meanwhile, rehabilitation services have declined by 62 percent due to the destruction of health infrastructure and the killing of more than 1,700 healthcare workers, in addition to the severe shortage of assistive devices such as wheelchairs, walkers, and prosthetics.

According to the report, 22 percent of severe limb injuries result in amputation. In addition, a large number of victims have sustained complex neurological and brain injuries, for which adequate rehabilitation services do not exist in Gaza.

The PCBS stressed: Rehabilitation services, which are an essential component of healthcare and vital for preventing complications, are facing near-total collapse in Gaza due to the destruction of medical facilities, the loss of personnel, and disruptions in supply chains.

The International Commission for Supporting Palestinian Rights also stated in a related statement that the genocidal war against Gaza has created one of the worst humanitarian realities of the modern era. The number of people with disabilities in Gaza has risen from approximately 68,000 before the war to more than 120,000, as a result of amputations, burns, spinal and brain injuries, and other serious physical trauma—raising the disability rate to nearly 60 percent.

According to the statement, Gaza health authorities have registered more than 44,000 new disability cases, including 12,000 children who have lost limbs or sustained permanent disabilities. At the same time, people with disabilities and more than 170,000 wounded individuals are living amid hunger, disease, lack of medical treatment, and siege, while basic services have completely collapsed.

The statement added that Israel has destroyed more than 84 percent of healthcare centers and specialized facilities for people with disabilities, including medical rehabilitation centers, physiotherapy clinics, and assistive device facilities. Educational and rehabilitation programs for children with disabilities have been halted, and access to prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs, blood pressure monitors, and physiotherapy equipment for the wounded and disabled has become severely restricted.

The commission further emphasized that the inability to transfer the wounded and patients out of Gaza, due to border closures and Israeli-imposed travel restrictions, has exacerbated the condition of thousands of injured and sick individuals who are still waiting for access to essential medical and rehabilitation services.

The statement stressed: Disability in Gaza has shifted from a manageable condition to an existential threat. Amputee children without treatment, wounded women without care, and elderly and sick people are sheltering in overcrowded facilities lacking even the most basic medical equipment.

According to the commission, the treatment of people with disabilities and the wounded in Gaza constitutes a direct assault on human dignity, a clear violation of international humanitarian law and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and falls within the framework of crimes against humanity. This situation demands urgent international action to save the lives of people with disabilities and to guarantee their fundamental rights to healthcare, education, food, shelter, assistance, protection, and a life of dignity.